


#FF0000

by aiviloti



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Colours, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 18:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17268974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiviloti/pseuds/aiviloti
Summary: A story of how James associates people around him with colours, and how enticing the colour orange is beginning to be.





	#FF0000

James had a tendency to associate people around him with colours.   
  
Sirius Black radiated indigo off his every being, a regal colour that reminded people of the ancient royalty. The indigo vibes James got off him reminded him of the Black family, despite Sirius's desperation to consider ties severed from everything of his past, there was some of that Black family authority to his words, to things he did. Sirius reminded James of a prince, in all possible ways.

When he joked (which to be fair was most of the time), you'd expect that prince-ly vibe to wan, but it stayed within him, though you may have to peer more closely to see how there was a layer of charm behind all of his dumb jokes. Surprisingly, his indigo aura was most present when they argued, as rarely as it happened. To defend his beliefs, the coldness behind his eyes was something that made even James gulp in intimidation because of how he could almost swear Sirius emitted electrifying, blue, neon shocks into the atmosphere by simply being present, rather than anything he did.

Remus, on the other hand, was a whole lot tamer colour. As tame as a werewolf could be on most days of the month, anyway. There was something that gave off a "green" vibe to Remus, which James suspected could have everything to do with how the colour green was portrayed by the muggles, saying how it was a colour that was comfortable to stare at for an extended period of time. That was what it felt to be around Remus. Comfortable. There were no awkward silences, no jokes taken too seriously or out of hand, no obligation to feel like he had to be the joker to lighten up the general mood. He just had to be James Potter, and that was completely enough.   
  
Despite being the timid and shyer member among the marauders, James linked Peter to a colour that wasn't at all mild. Peter went with yellow, a colour associated with the sun, daffodils, bees, honey, and a lot of things that put a smile to people's lips. That was his presence among the four.   
  
Sure, he was not the brightest, the bravest, the funniest, nor did he possess any remarkable trait. But yet, he was the one that had a soft heart even when everyone else did not. If any of them were injured, while the rest of them were teasing their friend about it, he would be the concerned one, who pestered them ages after the event was over, not resting until he was positive everyone was fine. He was also the one with certain childlike innocence, who could happily busy himself trying to figure out trivial matters.

Alone, James was someone who was determined to be working on something interesting, something new all the time, not allowing even a split second for boredom. When his friends were around, they brought a wider range of variation to his daily activities, and certainly more colours in his life.

For quite some time, he gladly accepted this as the norm, and perhaps even as a future ahead, with these particular combination by his side for a long time ahead. But one day, a whirl of orange came into his life. For once, there was finally a colour blinding enough for him to look up from his dearest marauders, yet made him reluctant to look away.

Somehow, despite being in the same class with her, Lily Evans did not caught James's attention at the beginning of days. Later on, he would claim that it was because the teenage hormones hadn't kicked in yet, or that pranks were the only thing that could speed up his heartbeat back then.

Whatever the reason was, he started to see Lily Evans in a new light near the end of their fourth year, exactly 3 years and 9 months and 4 days after their first meeting. One day, she was at most a mild, peachy colour, the other, James saw an orange, fierce and warm vibe to her. He realized he couldn't look away, not that he would have done so even if he could.

Thus began his life for one sided pining, which he soon realised was nothing but painful.

Soon, the Gryffindor common room became a war ground as James unrelentlessly attempted to ask Lily out, only to be rejected again and again, the coldness never leaving her tone.

He confronted her one day at the fireplace of the common room that heartily burned at the logs, asking why she was so against being friends with him. “You can tolerate Snivellus,” he whined. “What makes me so bad?”

“Get lost,” Lily said, her tone icy. “I don't interact with immature people who thrive on the misery of other people simply because they are bored.” She shuffled away, as if she couldn't stand even another moment with him.

Baffled, the steady stream of words that had yet to let him down abandoned him, as he was left gaping at her with a lost of words. Before she left his sight completely, his last remaining brain cell clicked, and he managed to call out mockingly, spurred by his anger and embarrassment from the umpteenth rejection.

“Is this about that greasy haired idiot? Should have known someone that evil would have casted some dirty tricks to keep anything precious locked by his side,” he called loudly, wanting to make sure she heard. “You'd pick someone like that huh, Evans?”

Lily froze and turned around very, very slowly. James would forever remember the amount of regret and fear that he felt in that moment. Lily's usual pretty orange swirls were nowhere to be seen, and in their place was fire, fire, fire.

“Don't you  _ dare _ -” She hissed at him, her eyes narrowing with every word. “Don't you dare talk about him in that way. You don’t have the right, Potter.”   
  
James’s heart physically throbbed at the sound of how acidic Lily spat the word “Potter”. He wondered if that poisonous tone would still be present each time Lily had to acknowledge him. With a click of her heels, she turned her back to him, speeding away.

The orange aura that glowed despite the anger was still undeniably beautiful, though. The dark corridor that only bore a frail lamp as a light source. Yet, despite the distance between James and the orange glow being pulled further, and further, it still outshone the lamp that couldn’t have been more than a few feet away from James. 

* * *

The Potter house may be a place where James could act however he wanted, but it was certainly less eventful than the castle he now called home.

Sirius was with him for almost the entirety of the holiday, so he definitely was not lacking in company. The same could be said of Remus and Peter, who popped by so often that it almost felt like they never left at all. The quartet got up to so many shenanigans, it was a miracle that Mr. and Mrs. Potter’s sanity was still intact after everything.   
  
Yet, despite how the pack of marauders managed to paint James’s world with their vibrant streaks of green, indigo and yellow, James caught himself desperately missing Lily’s orange hue. Her presence was like light entering a dark room, and managing to fill up every corner with the hope she brought.

It wasn’t like James didn’t like having his friends around though. It was just that sometimes he wished Lily was too, much as he did not want to admit it out loud.

* * *

Sirius sat up in the four poster bed one night in their fifth year, woken up by something he never expected to hear. He crept out of bed, slipping on his slippers, not wanting to wake anyone else. With a tiptoe, he reached the source of the noise, and hesitantly called out, “James?”   
  
When the mixture of sobbing and sniffing stopped immediately, so did Sirius’s heart.   
  
“Are you-”   
  
“Go away and leave me be, Sirius.” His usual nonchalant tone was nowhere to be found, in its place a kind of despair he never heard from James before.

Something wasn’t right. James was not someone who cried in the dead of the night over things that bothered him. If it had him so worked up, then it probably was not something Sirius should be teasing him for. Then what was it? What on earth could be something that affected James so much to the point where he would be so upset?

“Is this about-”   
  
“I swear to god Sirius, let’s just pretend this never happened, and you never saw me.”   
  
Fine, then. It didn’t seem right to interrupt such a desolate person when all he wanted was peace and quiet anyway.

* * *

The gestures of his friends may not be grand, but if one paid attention, they would see how the marauders did many things to make sure James’s days were a little bit better.    
  
Since the night Sirius caught him crying, it was obvious to see how among the three others, at least one would be around during the day, to keep him company, and make sure he took care of himself. James caught himself being more absent minded, tasks given easily slipping his bright mind, something odd for him. But Remus would gently remind him of McGonagall’s instructions to bring more parchment and such. He found his arm linked in Peter’s during lunch time, where Peter’s would keep a steely gaze on him until he was sure James had eaten something. Sirius took it upon him to take on James’s role of cheerily reminding the Gryffindor quidditch team of every practice session, bugging everyone until they confirmed their attendance.   
  
Seeing his friends being so considerate, James almost wanted to laugh at the pathetic reason he was being so mopey.  _ All this hassle, simply because of something a girl said? _   


* * *

The day James confidently marched up to ask Lily out for at least the 40th time in the same year, Lily said certain things to him. While it may not usually have been a big blow to him, it hit close to home that particular day.

“Look,” she sighed. “I’m going to say this once, and the last.”    
  
James could only stare. The lack of hostility in here tone was unexpected. It was great, but he wasn’t sure he preferred this tired tone any better.   
  
“I  _ cannot _ and  _ will not _ go out with you, simply because you make me very insecure by being around. Perhaps it’s because of the way you act, the way you speak, or simply. how blatantly disrespectful you are to those around you who can’t get along with. But anyway, I just don’t feel like you are someone I can be comfortable being in a relationship with, be it a romantic relationship or even friendship.”   


James’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? You’re missing out on everything that’s good about me, Evans.”    
  
His words broke whatever the calmness of Lily’s. “That. That is exactly what I am talking about, Potter. You’re so entitled and arrogant that most of the time you just think everyone’s supposed to worship you.” Her green eyes were gleaming with her sudden anger, her orange tone burning even brighter. “You so easily take everything for granted, that when things don’t go your way, you think people  _ owe _ you.”   
  
“That’s not fair of you-” he cut in in a desperate attempt to defend himself, but no words came out.   
  
The duo held each other’s gaze for a solid moment in a challenging sort of way, until Lily looked away.    
  
“Grow up, Potter.”

* * *

Some point after that day, James noticed a change in the colours he associated his friends with.   
  
Individually, Sirius was still indigo, Remus green and Peter yellow. But when the three of them were together, their individual colours began to melt away, and a red aura would form. A strong, brave and warm shade of scarlet loomed over his friends, and James was surprised to find that it shone even brighter whenever he was around, all four of them together.

He began to see the beauty in the kindness of his friends, in their fond gestures, in their concern. Along with them, he tried to give everyone the same kind of affection he received, like offering Remus a shoulder to lean on after a particular bad moon, like covering for Peter after he messed a crucial part in their pranks, leading them to Professor Slughorn’s wrath. He chose to never question Sirius each time he showed up at the Potter doorstep at an ungodly hour. James gave and continued to give his love to his friends, occasionally extending his warmth to those outside their marauder clique, to those who needed it.

The red only burned brighter and brighter by day, and James often caught himself wondering how we was ever so blind to miss it.

Sure, Lily’s orange tint was as enticing as ever, but the warm hues of red that burned brightly from the marauders was eternal, at its core was the bond between them, lighting now one, now another.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a zine piece of the "Mischief in the Making" free fanzine, where you can find at https://ksazines.tumblr.com/post/181598906616/after-a-long-wait-we-glad-to-announce-that
> 
> You can check the zine out, and as always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Happy new year, by the way :3


End file.
